


Pain, Perseverance, Pride, Passion

by through-the-stars-to-the-pavement (delicate_mageflower)



Series: Fire and Sword [5]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (don't worry it's not at all a bad thing), 5+1 Things, Angst with a Happy Ending, Chronic Pain, Disabled Sokka, Disabled Zuko, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, M/M, Minor Character Death, Partially Blind Zuko (Avatar), Partially Deaf Zuko (Avatar), Post-Hundred Year War - Freeform, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sokka has Osteoarthritis, Sokka has nerve damage, Sokka has tissue damage, Sparring, Turtleducks, Zukka Week 2021, Zuko has Chronic Migraines, Zuko has Chronic Tinnitus, Zuko has POTS, Zuko has nerve damage, and they were training partners (oh my god they were training partners)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-26 09:00:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30103515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delicate_mageflower/pseuds/through-the-stars-to-the-pavement
Summary: Five times Sokka and Zuko's sparring unexpectedly ends in a draw, and the one time it was intended to.[Zukka Week 2021, Day 5:College AU///5+1]
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Fire and Sword [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2209962
Comments: 16
Kudos: 84





	Pain, Perseverance, Pride, Passion

**i.**

“No jerkbending today.”

Sometimes Sokka encourages Zuko to bend when they practice together, sometimes he likes the challenge. This round is more about keeping in shape, however, and maybe a little bit about blowing off steam. His left shoulder subluxated in his sleep again last night so he doesn’t want to push himself. Zuko tried to talk him out of heading to the training grounds at all, but Sokka was insistent and Zuko didn’t want to treat him like glass. He knows how much Sokka hates that. And it’s fair; he hates it, too.

“No firebending,” Zuko confirms, pretending not to be amused by Sokka’s phrasing, which in reality has somehow never gotten old to him.

Only Sokka could say something so stupid and make Zuko smile not just once, but every day for the next ten years and counting.

“Got it.”

They pick up their practice swords, neither of them planning for a long or intense session.

“You can go for my left,” Zuko adds. He doesn’t like it, even when it’s Sokka, but a potential assassin isn’t going to be careful of his vision and hearing loss; on the contrary, if they know about it chances are they’ll deliberately exploit it, so he has to be able to stay on guard for it.

Sokka doesn’t like doing it, either, but he would also rather Zuko work on balancing fighting with staying alert on his left here instead of when his life literally depends on it. It is hard for him to manage, and he can’t chance losing what he can do.

Sokka doesn’t right away, doesn’t want Zuko to expect it. He sees the way his eyes dart around, the way his arms move to feel any changes in the very air around him better while maintaining his excellent swordsmanship. He almost gets Sokka once, and that’s when Sokka dives right.

This was a bad idea.

Zuko is able to detect him and dodge, but Sokka’s knee twists in a failed effort to stay light enough on his feet to try to better surprise Zuko, and he hits the ground with a thud and a shout.

Zuko drops his wooden “blades” immediately and sinks to the floor.

“Fuck,” Zuko yells upon his descent, watching Sokka start to hyperventilate while clutching his leg. “Fuck, Sokka…”

“I’m fine,” Sokka lies. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. Let’s…let’s keep going.”

Sokka tries to stand up and doesn’t make it. He tries so hard, groaning and shaking, his teeth clenched. “Okay, maybe we can…maybe we can take five?”

Sokka wants to _scream,_ not only out of the physical pain of the ongoing aftermath of his war injury, of his having aggravated it, but also simply out of frustration towards his own perceived “weakness.”

Zuko just holds him until he can stand again, and they do not return to the courtyards for the rest of the day.

***

**ii.**

They’ve been at it for nearly an hour. They’re both on their game today, matching each other blow for blow, neither of them seeming to be able to get an edge on the other.

They’re both getting tired, but neither are giving up.

Not, that is, until they are surprised by the sound of someone running full speed towards them.

“Mai?” Zuko turns to her, and Sokka relaxes his stance. “Is everything okay?”

“Zuko…” she takes a moment, out of breath but her face alight. “Sorry to interrupt you lovebirds, but I couldn’t wait. I just saw the physician, Zuko. It _took._ I’m pregnant.”

Zuko rushes to her, stopping himself at the last second from throwing himself at her too hard.

They’ve been working on this for over a year now, using new methods still in development to aid them through the process without them having to do it the old fashioned way. They were beginning to fear this wasn’t going to be feasible, and they are both ecstatic.

If he has to have a child, he’s thrilled he can do it with his best friend. And their partners have all been in on this from the start, have all been supportive and even excited.

This is certainly a good reason to abandon training. Sokka hugs her, too, and then they all head back to the palace for celebratory tea.

***

**iii.**

Sokka is tired, physically and emotionally.

Sometimes he just gets sad about his chronic pain. Nothing necessarily even has to trigger it. He’s always sad about it to a point, but some days are harder than others.

His pain has been flaring a lot the past few days. It’s been colder than usual, and raining. This is never good for him. Or Zuko, for that matter, but it’s got Sokka thinking about ways to handle his own.

He’s come up with some _ideas_ regarding it.

He was up all night putting it together. Literally.

And now here he is, ready to attack Zuko with a cane specifically designed to be able to double as a weapon if need be.

It’s bulkier than his normal one, heftier, with several small spikes adorning the bottom. He wanted a blade but even he couldn’t make that work while still keeping it as a functional mobility aid. So it’s certainly not as good as a sword, but it could absolutely do significant damage.

But it feels so much different from what Sokka is used to fighting with. So, practice.

Zuko is well-armored, helmeted and covered in not only steel and leather but also pillows to ease the impact. He wants Sokka to really be able to let loose, so he takes every precaution. Sokka is also permitting bending today (even though Zuko is still going to hold back since it’s his first time wielding this device, and the point isn’t to win but to adjust to handling it).

It is a bit harder to dodge a small stream of fire given the weight Sokka is holding, but he does. And then he turns and gracelessly nails Zuko right in the stomach, which does still register despite all his protective layers.

They go on like this for around twenty minutes, Zuko progressively holding back less as Sokka gets his bearings, and then Sokka misses a strike but Zuko ends up doubled over anyway.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, time out,” Sokka yells, running over. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

Zuko removes the helmet and Sokka sees he’s burning up, sweat running down his face, and they both know what that means.

He’d already dealt with major longterm chronic pains and impairments after that agni kai with Ozai: most of their friends know his left eye is blind and his left ear is deaf, but not many realize his remaining hearing is also plagued by a perpetual ringing sound he cannot control, and that he deals with what the royal physicians started calling chronic migraines. After the agni kai with Azula, the lightning damage caused him to have issues with the parts the nervous system which are supposed to self-regulate. He overheats more easily now—which can be _a problem_ in the Fire Nation, and evidently especially when covered in sweltering layers—and his heart rate will go _wild_ when his symptoms flare.

And the latter illness is what’s affecting him right now, there is no doubt about that.

He’s shaking like a leaf and he’s trying to help Sokka remove all of the protection he’s sporting but he’s only being a hindrance, so Sokka talks him into just trying to relax and breathe.

It’s not always possible to predict when this issue will cause problems, if they did this another day maybe Zuko wouldn’t have had to end it like this.

“You’ve got to breathe, baby,” Sokka tells him again and again. “I know it’s hard, but you have to breathe.”

It is, actually, fairly comparable to the sensation of a panic attack, so Sokka can at least kind of understand how he’s feeling.

Once he’s down to the light tunic and pants he came in with, Sokka won’t let him get up right away.

“Let’s take our time, love. Don’t need you passing out on me, okay?”

Because that is, unfortunately, a very real possibility, and all he needs to do for that to happen right now is stand up.

Sokka presses fingers to Zuko’s neck, on a pulse point, counting until it slows down enough for it to feel safe for them to get going.

Zuko apologizes profusely. Of course he does.

***

**iv.**

Ming approaches the training grounds.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, Zuko,” she begins. She actually calls him Zuko, one of the few who has observed this request. She and Uncle Iroh have gotten along extremely well, though, so it’s likely their friendship has been an influence on treating Zuko like more of a person. “But I come with news that could not wait.”

Zuko and Sokka put down their weapons and Sokka immediately takes Zuko’s hand, noticing the flash of panic in his eyes.

“What is it?”

And to of their surprise, Ming _smiles._

“Ozai is dead.”

And Zuko…Zuko runs over and _hugs her._

“Spirits, thank you,” he murmurs, and Sokka pulls him back so he may embrace him.

“Thank you, Ming, for…for not delaying. I appreciate it.”

“I’ll leave you to your mourning, my lord,” she replies with a wink.

From there they’re just too distracted to continue, but that is quite alright.

Sokka isn’t sure he has ever seen Zuko so happy.

***

**v.**

“Oh no.” Zuko stops in his tracks, freezes in his offensive stance when a turtleduck wanders over.

“Stop, sweetheart, you’re so far from home.”

Sokka readjusts his position, as well, just standing and watching Zuko chase down the little turtleduck who’d strayed too far from the pond.

“Let me help you,” he says as he is finally able to scoop her up. His practice sword has been discarded somewhere along the way. He doesn’t even know when he stopped carrying it, but right now the lost animal in his hands is his _only_ concern.

“I need to take her back,” Zuko tells Sokka. “She could get hurt out here, she’s supposed to stay close to water, I—”

“I’ll come with you,” Sokka offers easily, and the way Zuko’s face softens makes Sokka grin.

Fuck, he loves this man so much.

Little does Zuko know, he’s been thinking very long and very hard lately about marriage. The hateful Fire Nation laws about it have been repealed for long enough it will no longer look like the law changed for purely selfish reasons, even though there is also now a vibrant community in the Fire Nation, with yearly pride parades across the country and everything.

So yeah, it’s time. It’s been time for a while. But it’s only recently he’d written to Iroh about it, and received his blessing along with a massive shipment of Sokka’s favorite tea and promises to write again as soon as it happens because he is so excited and he has been waiting for this and it had better be soon, he’s kept his nephew waiting long enough.

And watching Zuko carefully cradle the turtleduck, doting over her, “talking” to her by mimicking her quacks back to her, Sokka _knows._ He has never known anything is all his life with the confidence he knows this.

***

**+**

Sparring together is a ritual by now. It’s a bonding experience bordering on sacred between them.

That’s what makes it feel like a perfect opportunity to turn into (hopefully) one of the happiest and most monumental moments of both their lives.

Zuko’s been knocked to the ground. Sokka lunges to pin him but Zuko rolls out of the way.

And then he stills. Sokka doesn’t attack again, unsure why Zuko isn’t moving.

For a second Sokka’s scared he accidentally really hurt him somehow, but his face is not one of someone who’s been injured.

It’s a little nervous, a bit awkward, but there’s a smile in there. He can’t stop himself biting the bottom of it, but the presence of the upward curve of his lips is undeniable.

He pulls a small box from his pocket.

“These are becoming popular in Republic City,” he explains of the ring, internally cursing himself for doing it all out of order but committed now. “So it seemed right, to take a new tradition from something we both worked so hard to build. The United Republic itself is a symbol of unity and I thought, umm, _this_ could be a symbol of ours.”

“Zuko…”

“Marry me, Sokka?”

Sokka reaches towards Zuko to help him up, and wraps him in his arms.

“Yes, fuck, of course…of course… I was planning to ask you, I wrote to Uncle and everything…”

“Of course you were,” Zuko laughs. “Are you excited to become Jerk Lord Consort?”

Sokka snorts at that. This is the first time he’s ever used the “jerk” joke back.

“I love you so much,” Sokka says, still laughing. “Of course I am. I’m so excited. I’ll be the best Jerk Lord Consort in the history of the Fire Nation.”

“Yes, you will, my love. I know you will.”

**Author's Note:**

> Julianna stop putting disability front and center in all your fics challenge
> 
> ( … _no ❤️_ )


End file.
